1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides products of novel design to facilitate the handling and shipping of disks and disk like materials. More specifically, the present invention provides a disk shipper for the secure transportation and storage of relatively rigid information storage disks, with the disks held in the shipper bottom in an axial alignment accessible to either internal or external diameter handling. The bottom of the disk shipper of this invention is designed to allow the disks to be loaded into the shipper bottom from a compatibly designed existing disk carrier in a simple non-rolling transfer operation. This invention also provides a transfer tray which is designed to allow relatively rigid information storage disks to be transferred therein from a compatibly designed existing disk carrier in a simple non-rolling transfer operation and support the disks in the tray in an axial alignment accessible to either internal or external diameter handling. The compatible designed existing disk carrier, with which the disk shipper and the transfer tray of this invention are designed to be transfer compatible, by contrast only allows the disks to be handled by their internal diameter.
Most traditional information storage disk handling devices have generally been adapted to only internal diameter handling of the disks. Thus, the present novel designs are particularly useful with newly developed techniques for manual and automated disk placement and processing which utilize external diameter disk handling techniques.
Another unique feature of the present novel products is the ability to transfer disks from either the disk shipper or the transfer tray of this invention to a compatibly designed disk carrier or vice versa while maintaining the disks securely held throughout the transfer procedure so that undesirable rolling of the disks is avoided while the transfer procedure is smoothly and efficiently carried out. It has been noted that rolling of the disks in transfer operations, traditionally referred to as "dumping", is a source of damage to the disks by the generation of deleterious particulate. Since the disk carriers with which the present disk shipper and transfer tray are transfer compatible, do not allow for external diameter handling of the disks, this transfer procedure allows the disks to be transposed into an axial alignment permitting either internal diameter or external diameter handling.
The type of disks intended to be used with the disk shipper and transfer tray of this invention are relatively rigid information storage disks, such as optical disks, aluminum computer disks, compact disks and computer memory storage disks. Although, the design of the disk shipper and transfer tray of this invention may be able to be modified to be suitable for use with more fragile wafers, such as silicon wafers, they are primarily designed for use with more relatively rigid information storage disks.
2. Description of Related Art
Throughout the development of the information storage disk processing industry, handling and shipping product designs have had to keep pace with changes in the state-of-the-art of both manual and automated techniques. Current information storage disk processing procedures utilize handling of the disks by both internal and external diameter. Therefore, there is a great demand for disk handling and shipping products which will allow the disks to be easily handled by either their internal or external diameter and at the same time be compatible with previously available internal diameter access disk carriers to facilitate transfer thereto and vice versa.
The present invention fills a great unmet need in this art area by providing a disk shipper which not only provides a study and convenient package for handling and transportation in a safe and secure manner, but also by providing a disk shipper which is designed to be compatible with existing internal diameter access disk carriers, so that the disks can be easily and safely transferred from the disk carrier to the shipper bottom or vice versa in a simple operation.
Additionally, the transfer tray of this invention provides a handling device to facilitate the non-rolling transfer of disks to and from a compatibly designed internal diameter access disk carrier, and maintains the disks in an upright parallel spaced-apart axial alignment accessible to either internal or external diameter manual or automated handling.
Currently available disk shipper designs which allow both internal and external disk handling are not transfer compatible with existing internal diameter access disk carriers. Empak, Inc. of Minnesota and Encore International of California both currently offer disk shippers which allow the disks to be accessed by either the internal or the external diameter, but which are not transfer compatible with existing disk carriers. Accordingly, the disks must be loaded by tedious and time consuming methods, which present the attendant problems of damage to the disks by particle generation, scratching or dropping.
In addition, many other deficiencies have been noted with previous disk shippers. Certain information storage disk shipping packages now available require three components to provide a secure package: a top, a bottom and a cassette insert. Thus, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,557,382 and 4,450,960 require this type of arrangement, adding to the cost of materials involved, the storage space for the component parts and the time involved in assembling and disassembling the package.
Other disk shippers require separate cushioning inserts inside the top and bottom members to ensure alignment and positioning of the disks. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,850,296; 4,043,451 and 4,061,228 all require some type of additional cushioning arrangement.
Further, there is currently not available a device for transferring relatively rigid information storage disks from internal diameter access disk carriers to a tray which maintains the disks in a secure upright parallel spaced-apart axial alignment allowing either external or internal diameter handling.
The present invention overcomes these and many other deficiencies noted in disk shipping and handling devices as will become apparent from the further consideration of the present disclosure.